JAIPUR: Leopard deaths continued to haunt wildlife lovers in Jhalana Leopard Safari Park where country’s first conservation project for these big cats was initiated last year.Another leopardess was found dead on Tuesday in suspicious circumstances in Jaisinghpura Khor area. It is the second leopard death in Jaipur in three days. Children who had gone in search of their ball, noticed the carcass of the animal near Mailiba-Ki-Dhani.DFO Sudarshan Sharma said, “It was a leopardess less than a year in age. Preliminarily, it appears to be a natural death. But, the viscera samples of the leopardess will be sent to the forensic science laboratory to ascertain the exact cause of her death. The cremation was done after post-mortem on Tuesday.”According to sources, maggots on the carcass indicated that leopardess died about two days ago. Possibility of poaching or unnatural death was ruled out for the leopardess as her skin, teeth and nails were intact.This death reported in Jhalana forest area is considered a major setback to leopard conservation where the state government introduced its ambitious project to protect these big cats. They are listed at par with the tigers under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972.The recent Waterhole Census-2018 revealed that the leopard count has gone up by 31.5% in the Jhalana forest area. Leopard population in Jhalana has gone up to 24. In 2017, the leopard population was recorded as 19.Sources said that Jhalana recorded this as the fifth leopard death in past one year and second death in a week. The death of a leopard cub at Jhalana came to light when visitors noticed Flora, a leopardess, pulling her dead cub up a tree on Saturday.

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